Friday, February 10, 2006

violent Oblivious Mice Take Bullying in Stride. The social avoidance that normally develops when a mouse repeatedly experiences defeat by a dominant animal disappears when it lacks a gene for a memory molecule in a brain circuit for social learning, scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered. Mice engineered to lack this memory molecule continued to welcome strangers in spite of repeated social defeat. Their unaltered peers subjected to the same hard knocks became confirmed loners — unless the researchers treated them with antidepressants. [Science Blog -] 12:16:28 PM    comment

genetics Study opens door to new treatment of the blues. A Florida State University scientist used a gene transfer technique to block the expression of a gene associated with clinical depression in a new study of mice that could lead to better treatment of human beings with this condition. [Science Blog -] 11:38:44 AM    comment

influence Candy on the desk is candy in the mouth. When it comes to candy, it is out of sight, out of the mouth, a Cornell University researcher finds. The study finds that women eat more than twice as many Hershey Kisses when they are in clear containers on their desks than when they are in opaque containers on their desks -- but fewer when they are six feet away. [Science Blog -] 9:13:01 AM    comment